Overcome your fear of public speaking by being well prepared
You are only four steps away from having all the best public
speaking techniques and tools you'll need to organize yourself
to deliver the best speech you possibly can. Fear of public
speaking and stage fright really often relate to the fact that
as a speaker you're just not sure how your speech will be
received by your audience. The best tips on public speaking any
speaker can give you are that you need to be well prepared in
advance and you need to try to eliminate unpredictable outcomes
as much as you can. When something happens while you are on
stage that you "really" didn't expect, you need to have a
back-up plan or else you'll freeze and you'll loose your train
of thought. Nothing can replace practice and preparation. The
following public speaking techniques to preparing yourself will
drill these points even further.
Step #1 ― GATHERING MATERIAL
Having chosen a theme for your speech, the logical order to
follow is 1) gather the material, 2) carefully select the best
from the material you've gathered and arrange it in order of
delivery (what will be your introduction, main topic and
conclusion) 3) have a clear picture in your mind of the entire
speech and the order in which it will be presented. The task of
finding material may be slow and tedious at first, but
successive efforts will make it much easier. The habit of
completely "thinking out" a subject should be cultivated from
the beginning to avoid wasting time. Thoughts should be noted
down in writing as they occur and not be left to the caprice of
memory (we lead such busy lives, create a "note pad" on your
computer or a Word document to gather any ideas that come to
mind). To do a proper job at gathering your material, make sure
you start well in advance because it does take time and you
don't want to rush the process. After exhausting the resources
of your own mind, you may next turn to books in order to confirm
and strengthen ideas and gather further new material. You will
also need to interact with well-informed people whenever
possible.
Note worthy: the note-book habit can not be too strongly urged
here as the only safeguard against lapses of memory. References,
ideas, quotations and arguments should be promptly put down in
writing. At this stage of preparing a speech you should eagerly
read books, magazines and newspapers, with a view to finding
further suitable material.
The advice given to preachers by Prof. Arthur S. Hoyt (he was a
religious public speaker), applies equally to other public
speakers. He says: "By all means do your own thinking. Fix your
thought upon the text and subject, and try to penetrate to its
vital meaning. Find the message for your own soul in it. Believe
in the spirit of truth and learn to trust your own judgment as
enlightened by his influence. Do not go at once to commentaries
and homiletic handbooks for material, but let your own thought
grow by thinking. Take stock of your own mental and spiritual
resources. Be thoroughly yourself and find your own voice, for
in this way only will you have that personal and individual
flavor which makes the charm of true preaching."
Step #2 ― ARRANGING MATERIAL
The second step, that of selecting what is desirable from this
mass of unarranged material, requires unusual skill and
judgment. Many pet ideas and phrases must be discarded (a.k.a.
get rid of as many clich